Enact law to protect Museveni - Bwanika

By Cecilia Okoth

The People’s Development Party (PDP) and Forum for Integrity in Leadership (FIL), want Parliament to enact a law that will provide peaceful and respectable retirement for President Yoweri Museveni.

PDP said the law should embrace the principle of amnesty and forgiveness. This law will also cover other presidents so that they do not cling onto power for fear of prosecution.

“PDP would like the exit of Mr. Museveni to be peaceful and respectable,” the party leader, Dr. Abed Bwanika, said.

Apart from creating a conducive environment for ex-presidents, the heads of the two political parties — Bwanika and Emmanuel Tumusiime also want the issue of term limits to be urgently addressed.

    
In a joint press conference that was held in Kampala yesterday, Bwanika and FIL’s Tumusiime said Parliament, which is the law making arm of government, should aggressively follow the debate.

“This law should forgive Museveni and at the same time not individually debate Museveni in regard to term limits,” Bwanika said.

“For democracy to endure and deepen in Uganda, the two critical questions of term limits and the exit of President Museveni are of essence and must be addressed immediately.”

However, regarding the issue of the President’s exit, the two leaders said the public needed to get involved in the debate as well.


“Term limit is in the first place a national issue and not an NRM issue. It is loaded with power to stabilise or destabilize Uganda,” Tumusiime argued.

Bwanika and Tumusiime also denied any intention to support Nandala Mafabi, the leader of the opposition, in his presidential ambitions.

“We strongly disassociate ourselves with the opposition’s move. We were only invited by the leader of opposition to see how he can work with parties which are not represented in Parliament,” Tumusiime said.

Bwanika said pledging support to Mafabi’s presidential bid in 2016 was not on the agenda.

“It is just one year down the road and Mafabi is already excited about contesting for presidency in 2016. We believe it is too early to engage ourselves in that,” Bwanika concluded